THE BROCK-NORWEB 1792 SILVER CENTER CENT

The Silver Center cent is one of the most significant and historically important coins ever struck at the Philadelphia Mint. It was the first coin actually produced inside the walls of the First United States Mint, as earlier patterns, like the 1792 half dismes, were actually struck in makeshift facilities before the Mint buildings were ready for operations.

Walter Breen, a numismatist who was not given to understatement, once remarked that the Silver Center cent was "deserving of more superlatives than we can bring ourselves to lavish on it." Just over a dozen specimens have survived, including one example in the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian Institution.

The founding fathers apparently learned a great deal about establishing a monetary system from the earlier attempt by Robert Morris to set up a decimal coinage system with his program of Nova Constellatio patterns in 1783. Both Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson clearly saw the practical advantages of the decimal system, but wanted to avoid the complications arising from making the basic unit too small and unwieldy for use in everyday calculations. Based on the work of these two men, the Mint Act of April 2, 1792 authorized the establishment of a national mint...

Section 9 of the Mint Act specified that the cent should contain 11 pennyweights (264 grains) of pure copper. The planchet would be somewhat larger than the present-day half dollar, clearly too big for convenient use in everyday purchases (imagine carrying five half dollar-sized coins in your pocket to make a five-cent transaction). Henry Voigt, the ingenious chief coiner, suggested an innovative bimetallic solution to the problem. Voigt calculated that a coin with a tapered plug containing ¾ of a cent worth of silver inserted into a copper planchet worth ¼ of a cent would have both the proper intrinsic value and a convenient size.

The silver plug was to be conical in shape and inserted into a tapered hole in the copper planchet with the wider top of the plug on the obverse of the coin. When the resulting bimetallic planchet was struck on the screw press, the protruding edges of the plug would be fused with the surrounding copper and actually receive part of the design. A note in Henry Voigt's journal indicates that the first Silver Center cents were struck on December 17, 1792...

The present coin has an illustrious pedigree, tracing its history back to 19th century collector Robert C.H. Brock, who left this coin and a significant portion of his collection to the University of Pennsylvania. Financier J.P. Morgan acquired other parts of Brock's collection and later donated those coins to the American Numismatic Society, where they can still be seen today. The University of Pennsylvania deaccessioned its numismatic holdings circa 1952, with many coins going to dealer Philip H. Ward. After several intermediaries, this piece was a highlight of the famous Norweb Collection, one of the most important and valuable collections of all time. Several distinguished collectors have held the coin since then, including our present consignor, Oliver Jung.

To read the complete lot description, see: 1792 Silver Center Cent, Judd-1 (coins.ha.com/itm/patterns/1792-p1c-one-cent-judd-1-pollock-1-high-r6-ms64-brown-pcgs-secure-cac/a/1208-5517.s?type=collectora-3---coin--news--tem072614)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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